Oregon voters expressed overwhelming support for protecting transgender people from discrimination in housing, jobs and the like, but residents are split on other rights for transgender people, including gender-affirming medical care for youth, according to a new online poll by Portland-based DHM Research.
Oregon adults split on most questions of gender identity and gender-normative standards, according to the poll of 500 registered voters adjusted to match the state’s demographics. About 45% told pollsters that they think gender is determined by sex assigned at birth, while 46% said people can identify with a gender that differs from that.
The poll, conducted April 25 to April 30, has a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percentage points.
Nearly 80% of the participants told pollsters they felt transgender people should be protected from job discrimination but 61% of people indicated they thought transgender athletes should be required to play on teams that match their assigned sex at birth and nearly half of the participants thought gender identity should not be taught in classes.
Students across the nation face repercussions of gender restrictions, including those in La Center, Washington, just over 20 miles north of Portland. La Center’s school board forbade teachers from asking students for their pronouns in January, claiming that the school should favor “the majority” of students who didn’t change their pronouns.
Almost half of the participants in the DHM statewide Oregon poll thought health insurance companies should cover gender affirming care. But 60% thought it should be illegal for health care professionals to provide such care to someone younger than 18. Forty percent of Oregonians said they thought parents of transgender children should be investigated for child abuse.
This year alone, eight states banned gender-affirming care and at least nine more are expected to follow suit throughout the year, primarily due to fear of permanent procedures like genital surgery. Doctors say this is rare and typically refer youth to voice coaches and hormone medicine.
Oregon’s poll results line up with a 2022 Pew Research poll that found most Americans thought transgender people shouldn’t be discriminated against but didn’t support policies that might protect them.
— Lisa Moreno; lmoreno@oregonian.com
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